Saturday, April 29, 2006
The Pampas
We have returned from our 3 relaxing days on the Pampas.
Swimming with dolphins was great, could forget about the caimans (crocs that grow to 7 m), stingrays, anacondas, piranahs etc - but the murky water wouldn´t let me forget about the chigas and other water bourne nasties. Karen was touched by the dolphins 5 times, so we recon she is pregnant. Must have been doubly scarry as in the murky water, visibility was about 10cm and the dolphins approached from below.
The birdlife was very prolific. Must have seen 50 different types of large birds inc, shags, cormorants, maribu storks, eagles.
It was warm at times but the bugs were less of a problem than many New Zealand trips. Accomodation at Bala lodge was comfortable. They kept bats in the sleeping areas to eat the bugs that made it through the outer layer of mossy nets. They flitted about during the night sqeaking and crunching on the bitties, but not enought to disturb a good sleep. In the mornings our personal mossy nets were peppered with mossy wings and bat poo.
Driving out to the Pampas had a few moments of drama. The three 4wds were not fit for a demolition derby. Ours had the front propeller shaft on the floor and the steering ball joints held together with inner tube rubber. A tropical downpour slowed us considerably as the three jeeps had only three working wipers, and the two on our vehicle must have been original 1985 ones. One of the jeeps had a young driver with a bandage covering a nasty gash over one eye and lead in his right foot.. His passengers were choking on the petrol fumes and when we caught up after they had bogged there was insurrection in the crew with Karen threatening to give him matching eyes and Gerry confiscating the keys. Problems were resolved when the transmission on his jeep failed completely while we were rescuing the next jeep through the bog. We left him and his BOS car behind and began walking the last 5kms. Eventually the 2 remaining land cruisers caught up and with people riding on the roof and bumpers, finished the journey - 3 hours late.
The health of the 15 of us on this leg is all good. Pete has had a bit of a reaction to sandfly bites from the River trip. His ankles look like bloated pin cushions - but he is still able to enjoy a beer so we are not treating it seriously.
Our plane out of Rurre has been cancelled and we face a 14 hour bus ride tomorrow. My behind may find this worse than 8 hours on a bike.
The last few days have been surprisingly relaxing. However this will probably change as we start at 5am tomorrow and Sunday will probably be a big run or bike.
Ross
Swimming with dolphins was great, could forget about the caimans (crocs that grow to 7 m), stingrays, anacondas, piranahs etc - but the murky water wouldn´t let me forget about the chigas and other water bourne nasties. Karen was touched by the dolphins 5 times, so we recon she is pregnant. Must have been doubly scarry as in the murky water, visibility was about 10cm and the dolphins approached from below.
The birdlife was very prolific. Must have seen 50 different types of large birds inc, shags, cormorants, maribu storks, eagles.
It was warm at times but the bugs were less of a problem than many New Zealand trips. Accomodation at Bala lodge was comfortable. They kept bats in the sleeping areas to eat the bugs that made it through the outer layer of mossy nets. They flitted about during the night sqeaking and crunching on the bitties, but not enought to disturb a good sleep. In the mornings our personal mossy nets were peppered with mossy wings and bat poo.
Driving out to the Pampas had a few moments of drama. The three 4wds were not fit for a demolition derby. Ours had the front propeller shaft on the floor and the steering ball joints held together with inner tube rubber. A tropical downpour slowed us considerably as the three jeeps had only three working wipers, and the two on our vehicle must have been original 1985 ones. One of the jeeps had a young driver with a bandage covering a nasty gash over one eye and lead in his right foot.. His passengers were choking on the petrol fumes and when we caught up after they had bogged there was insurrection in the crew with Karen threatening to give him matching eyes and Gerry confiscating the keys. Problems were resolved when the transmission on his jeep failed completely while we were rescuing the next jeep through the bog. We left him and his BOS car behind and began walking the last 5kms. Eventually the 2 remaining land cruisers caught up and with people riding on the roof and bumpers, finished the journey - 3 hours late.
The health of the 15 of us on this leg is all good. Pete has had a bit of a reaction to sandfly bites from the River trip. His ankles look like bloated pin cushions - but he is still able to enjoy a beer so we are not treating it seriously.
Our plane out of Rurre has been cancelled and we face a 14 hour bus ride tomorrow. My behind may find this worse than 8 hours on a bike.
The last few days have been surprisingly relaxing. However this will probably change as we start at 5am tomorrow and Sunday will probably be a big run or bike.
Ross
# posted by Ross @ 9:28 AM 
